Heart : official journal of the British Cardiac Society
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To determine the diagnostic accuracy of advanced medical priority dispatch system (AMPDS) software used to dispatch public access defibrillation first responders to out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA). ⋯ The sensitivity of this dispatch process for cardiac arrest is moderate and will constrain the effectiveness of Public Access Defibrillation (PAD) schemes which utilise it.
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To ascertain time trends in rates of hospital admission, operations, in-hospital case fatality and general mortality for congenital heart disease (CHD) in England and Wales. ⋯ Admission rates for CHD have increased over the past decade, particularly amongst patients in older age groups. There has also been a significant decrease in both in-hospital case fatality rates and in general population mortality rates. These trends are consistent with improvements in the quality of care for these patients, improvements in survival and the predicted expansion in the number of adults living with CHD.
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To carry out long-term follow-up after percutaneous closure of patent foramen ovale (PFO) in patients with cryptogenic stroke. ⋯ This study attests to the long-term safety and efficacy of percutaneous PFO closure guided by fluoroscopy only for secondary prevention of paradoxical embolism in a large cohort of consecutive patients.